Steam iron



May 26, 1959 Filed June 4, 1956 R. KUHN ETAL 2,887,799

STEAM IRON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 H FIGQI.

iii Z5 111?! INVENTORS ROBERTA. KUHN CHARLES A. HANSER- May 26, 1959 Filed June 4, 1956 R. A. KUHN ETQAL 2,887,799

STEAM IRON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS ROBERT'A.KUHN By CHARLES A.HANSER WWW /WW ATTORNEYS Unitd Stes STEAM IRON Robert A. Kuhn, Grosse Pointe, and Charles Hanser, Detroit, Mich, assignors to American Electrical He ater Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application June 4, 1956, Serial No. 589,116

1 Claim. (Cl. 38-47) The invention relates to steam laundry irons and has more particular reference to the construction for maintaining a sealed joint between the water holding tank and the sole plate. It is the usual practice to form the water tank of sheet metal and the sole plate of a casting having formed therein channels for receiving the insulated electrical heating resistor and for also forming the steam generating chamber. The latter is closed by a cover plate and water is admitted thereto through a nozzle depending from the tank and passing through an aperture in said cover plate. However, as there is a relatively large range of variation in temperature of these parts, provision must be made for free expansion and contraction of the same, which sometimes has a disturbing effect on the sealed joint between the tank and sole plate. 1

It is the object of the invention to obtain a construction in which this sealed joint is always maintained regardless of the shifting of other parts due to temperature changes. To this end the invention consists in the construction as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the steam laundry iron.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the sole plate with the cover plate for the steam chamber removed.

Fig. 3 is a cross section through the assembled structure on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged axial section through the nozzle.

As shown in Fig. 2, A is the sole plate having formed therein the channel A for receiving the insulated resistor B and also a tortuous channel A constituting the steam generating chamber. C is a cover plate for the channel A which has an aperture C therein, indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 2, communicating with one end of the channel A Headed screws C clamp the cover plate in position. Above this sole plate is the water tank D which is enclosed by the hood E. This hood is secured to the sole plate by a transversely extending inverted U-shaped strap F within the same. The opposite ends of the strap are secured by screws F to the sole plate at substantially the longitudinal center thereof, while screws F secure the hood to said strap. The tank D in longitudinal section tapers from front to rear, passing beneath the strap F, which latter has a downwardly ofiset center portion F normally contacting the top of said tank. At its rear end the tank rests upon posts D, while near its front end there is a depending nozzle G having a tapering portion 6' extending through the aperture C in the cover plate C. There are no other contacts between the tank and the sole plate and the nozzle G alone determines its position relative thereto. H is a handle member including front and rear post portions H and H and the hand hold portion H extending between said posts. The forward post H is hollow, forming a chamber H the lower end of which receives an upwardly extending filler tube D rising from the tank D and passing through an aperture in the hood E. A forwardly extending aperture H connecting with the chamber H completes the fill opening for the tank. Flow 2,887,799 Patented May 26, 1959 of water from the tank through the nozzle G is controlled by a valve rod 1. This rod extends centrally through the chamber H of the post H and at its lower end has a conical valve portion 1' for engaging a seat G within said nozzle. A further downward extension of the rod I forms a metering means for the water flow when the valve is raised from its seat. This downward extension is of two diameters I and I which in different positions of the rod I respectively restrict the water passage within the nozzle to give two diiterent rates of flow. The upper end of the rod I extends out from the handle and has a knob I through which it may be turned and moved vertically by a cam member (not shown). This vertical movement will withdraw the valve portion 1' from the seat G permitting water to flow from the tank into the channel A This flow will however be restricted by one or the other of the diameters I I which are positioned within the nozzle by cam means (not shown) within the knob. A spring I sleeved on the rod within the chamber H resiliently presses it downward to close the valve against its seat.

As above stated it is an object of the invention to maintain a water seal between the tank and the sole plate regardless of any variation in relative positions of these members due to expansion or contraction. This we accomplish by placing a coil spring I around the filler tube D between the tank D and the hood E. This resiliently presses the nozzle G downward with its tapering portion G engaging the aperture C in the cover plate C. This will permit free relative movement of all other portions of the tank and sole plate due to expansion and contraction without disturbing this sealing portion.

The iron is provided with other elements forming no part of the present invention and which therefore need not be further described. Some of these elements are described and claimed in our copending application Serial No. 476,526, filed December 20, 1954, now Patent No. 2,825,158, dated March 4, 1958.

What we claim as our invention is:

A steam iron comprising a sole plate with a steam generating chamber therein with a water inlet opening at the forward end of the sole plate, a water supply tank extending lengthwise for substantially the entire length of said sole plate, said tank having a substantially flat bottom surface spaced above the sole plate and said tank tapering from front to rear, a pair of supporting posts extending upwardly from the rear of said sole plate and arranged on opposite sides of the longitudinal centerline thereof, the tops of said posts contacting the flat bottom surface of said water tank at the rear end thereof, a nozzle secured to the bottom surface of said water tank at the forward end thereof and projecting downwardly to engage said water inlet opening to form a sealing engagement therewith, said nozzle thereby forming the support for the forward end of said water tank and together with the aforesaid posts maintaining stable engagement of the tank with the sole plate independently of any superstructure, a hoodadapted to be removably attached to said sole plate independently of said water tank, a U-shaped strap attached to said sole plate at substantially the longitudinal center thereof and having the upper portion of the U engaging said hood, a fastener between said hood and strap, a filler tube extending upwardly through said hood in alignment with said nozzle, and a coil spring surrounding said filler tube between the upper surface of said water tank and the under surface of said hood.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

